There is a misconception that return on investment cannot be measured when it comes to social media campaigns. The following six benefits show how social media engagement can prove worthwhile.

Social media engagement goes beyond tweets and posts about your specials and coupon promotions. Your followers and fan tire easily of the “in-your-face” sales pitches about the latest and greatest deal. It gets old and they will eventually tune you out…or even worse, they will stop following you.

Effective engagement leads to REAL social conversations which can lead to authentic and invaluable return on investment. Managers and decision makers often ask: what are the benefits of social media and why should we use it for marketing purposes? Below are seven benefits that can happen as a result of active social media engagement.

1. Creates brand ambassadors - The best testimonial you could receive comes straight from your customers’ mouths…or in this case, straight from their tweets or Facebook posts. You don’t have to mention your brand once. Let your followers do all the talking. A happy customer will gladly share with others WHY they should use your services/products. During 2011, approximately 18 million people were strongly influenced by the opinions of others on social media. Who are the influencers in your social media clique?

2. Getsinside the heads of your fans and followers - Check out their profiles and find out more information. Ask genuine questions about what they like or dislike to get the conversation started. People love to talk about themselves and share their opinions. Give them a reason to share and interact with your brand. Remember this basic human fact – people love talking about themselves and what they care about. Remember to listen to your fans, and actively participate in their conversations.

3. Talks about your products and services - You build the context of real conversation with back and forth chatter that doesn’t sound like a canned sales pitch. People don’t respond when they are being talked at…talk WITH your customers and fans.

4. Promotes “word of mouth” marketing - Your customers will tell their social media followers how much they like (or hate) your brand, simply by the way they talk about their experiences with your brand. With just one tweet, thousands of people (and potentially more) just heard about your company from other, and gave your brand a “big thumbs up”. When you consider that 23 million people in 2011 discovered new brands or products through social media, then you can see why remaining connected and engaged is very important.

6. Improves your bottom-line – It’s a fallacy to think you can't measure ROI when it comes to social media engagement. You can see a return on investment by first establishing what you want to measure. If your goal is to increase sales during happy hour or Sunday brunch, then create campaigns, content and conversation both around and about those events. Leverage QR codes, special offers, and games and contests to help drive interest and traffic to your business. You may not be able to measure your ROI exactly but you can get close